My Morning Self-Care Routine

It has been SO unexpectedly busy in my life since the New Year. I feel like the weeks are just flying by. Can anyone tell me how we are halfway through February already!? Since it has been total chaos the past couple months, I decided today to share my routine for handling the stress and staying productive. My 5-step morning routine helps keep me happy during the week, no matter what my schedule looks like.

One thing that helps me stick to a set morning routine is to steer clear from social media from the time that I wake up to when I arrive at the office for work. The reason that I do this is because I can get so wrapped up in a "quick check" that oftentimes, I'll find that I've been aimlessly scrolling for 2 hours in bed and have gotten nothing accomplished. I'm sure that a lot of you can relate to this feeling as well. So, instead of wasting this precious time on social media, I've developed an easy routine to keep myself busy with tasks that make ME happy and help start my day on a positive note.

This routine may look different for everyone so, allow yourself to swap in/out activities that truly make YOU happy and make you want to jump out of bed in the morning to start your day.

1. Homemade Smoothie

Since I started my 14-day health cleanse last month, smoothies have been a constant in my life. I wake up truly looking forward to that first sip of my favorite banana smoothie. Starting off with a healthy meal to fuel my morning has been a necessary adjustment considering I had been skipping breakfast all together. This is the first thing that I do when I wake up around 5am. Most mornings, Sam has to be out the door before 6am so, I'll make ours together so that we can enjoy a bit of quality time before the rush of the day begins. This is usually when Sam and I discuss our work schedules for the day, dinner plans, and sometimes even watch a few minutes of I Love Lucy (his favorite).

2. Workout or Stretch

I joined a "traditional" gym last month (I was doing strictly Krav Maga before) and as silly as it may seem, I am loving getting back to the basics with the treadmill, bike, and stair-stepper. While it doesn't seem that exciting, it works for me because it has created a routine in the gym and helps control how long I spend there. In the mornings during the week, I'll either pop into the gym to complete a quick, 40 minute work out or I'll do some simple stretching at home. I enjoy exercising in the mornings because I can cross that task off once I am finished rather than dreading it throughout the day and feeling sluggish by the time I get there at 8pm after dinner (also it's relatively empty in the mornings so... #bonus).

3. Beauty Refresh

In regards to my "beauty routine", I've always considered myself extremely lazy. Most nights, I am guilty of falling asleep with my makeup from the day still applied or, at the very least, forgetting to moisturize when I get out of the shower. This really hasn't changed much as I've gotten older but, at least I've discovered how to work beauty care into my morning routine now in a way that doesn't feel overly time-consuming or draining. When Bioderma reached out to me last month about partnering, I was interested because I didn't typically have beauty products on hand that are focused on healthy skin or complexion. I mostly owned products that were designed to "cover up" the imperfections and mistreated skin. Quite backwards, I suppose.

The beauty combo that I am sharing below is my absolute favorite; I have been using it every morning for the past month and it doesn't take more than 10 minutes (5 for letting the face mask set). It cleans my skin and leaves my face feeling super soft and smooth. Even Oli agrees - he LOVES to rub his face up against mine once I'm finished, lol! Oh, did I forget to tell you my most secret beauty confession? It's looooots and lots of puppy slobber. Really makes the skin shine ;)

4. Read or Edit Blog Posts

After Sam leaves home in the morning, I usually get a bit of time to myself before I have to head to work. For the most part, I spend this time editing new blog posts, catching up on emails for Lifestyle by Anna Elizabeth, and brainstorming content and ideas. This helps me get ahead for the day so that if we have a new post scheduled for that night, it is prepped and ready to be published once I get home. Although, if my posting schedule isn't super slammed for the week, I usually wind up reading a few chapters of a new book (currently: The Goldfinch). I look forward to this especially when I am feeling stressed or anxious as reading something new helps me get out of my head and focus on someone else's story for an hour.

5. Listen to a Podcast

One of my New Years' resolutions was to listen to a podcast every day during the work week. This has by far been the easiest resolution to keep because I just adore it. I don't listen to the same channel or genre each day but, I always look forward to that quick boost of motivation, advice, or positive energy in the morning. I either listen to the podcast in my car on my way to work (about an hour commute which is perfect) or first thing in the office as I'm replying to emails for the day. Once I listen to a discussion, especially if it is business-oriented, it usually sticks with me throughout the day and I'll end up replaying the key points in my mind as I try to soak in what I can apply to my own life/career. I love that every day is different. I feel like I am always learning and I can definitely say that it has added to my happiness level overall.

Full post coming soon with my top 5 favorite podcast channels!

This post was done in partnership with Bioderma. I enjoy their beauty products and the company as a whole and I would not share them with you if I would not truly purchase them myself. All words shared in this post are my own and were not influenced. You can purchase the items that I used in this post here through Beautylish.